Dark Secret: Convergence of Spirits
Previous Chapter - Dark Secret: Beginning of Soul Introduction The morning sun slowly rose over the hills of the Norvino Kingdom as the birds began their wondrous music, making many of the citizens slowly arise from their well placed naps as some began their morning routines for the new day. At the castle of the royal family, Kristel Solus, was seen slowly rising from her covers as she stretched her arms upward and rubbed her eyes, "Good morning princess" One of the maids said as she walked up to go wash her face in the mirror with some water. "Good morning Anki, is there any word on today's agenda?" She asked as there was a knock on the door. James Fitzgibbon walked, not waiting for any indication for it being alright to enter. "Hey there, Princess! How are you doing?" He said casually. "You're very lucky I wasn't naked, else I would've made sure that the next thing you see would be my blades stabbing your eyes out" She said glaring at him as the maid bowed before walking out of the room, "What's up, didn't peg you for getting up this early either" Kristel said moving towards her mirror as she began brushing her hair. "Geez, no need to be so moody." James said as he sat in a nearby chair, leaning back. "Anyways, I wanted to come and tell you that your mom wanted us to go and scout the area once again. Make sure that everything is alright." He said as he reached behind him, grabbing a small leather book. "Oh? What is this little book right here?" "A book of ancient myths, I used to love reading it when I was a little girl, it was amazing how many different kinds of stories were in the book, but it's been years since I touched it" She said stepping into her shower as she locked the door and began to fill her tub while undressing. "You can look through it, just try not to rip it or anything, it's really important to me..." She said going into the bath and relaxing. "Kay. Thanks, although I thought that this was your diary or something" He said as began to open up the book and began to the read the stange myth-filled book. "Although, if you had said diary, where would you probably hide it?" "That'd be under the "I'd sooner rip out my own hair than tell you" drawer, and you better not be looking through my stuff" She said sinking deeper into the water as she knew that some secrets in her diary were related to James, and it'd literally make her cry if he ever found out about them. James, who was just about to open one of her draws to her desk, stopped as he thought about the consequences that would befall on him if he did this. Being beaten up was not that scary but being being beaten up by an enraged princess taught to use a sword in a way that still baffles him was a big deal. He let out a brief shudder and slowly moved his hand from the desk draw. "Aside from bothering me this early in the morning, did you make the rounds with everyone else? I'm sure mom would want them all to be on high alert" She said adding shampoo to her hair as she slowly massaged her scalp and leaned back as she allowed the warm water to ease her stress. "Yeah, I made sure that everyone else are in ther areas that they need to be in. Granted your mom threaten to kill me if I didn't come and get you" He said as he continued to read the book. "Are you finished yet? I don't want your mom to barge in here and make this awkward." James continued to go through the book, finding out it was two lovers, who had both contracted an unknown disease that was apparently incurable. Despite this, they each go their own way to find a cure for the other, doing everything they could, only to find out that there is none, which they both admit to before they die after professing their love to each other. It was a sad and touching tale honestly, making James wish that something like this never fall onto anyone. "It would only be awkward if I had to change in my own room with you in it too, lucky for me I always have clothes in my washroom" She said putting on her clothes as she came out with the towel on her head and her attire before heading to her closet to get her armor to put on. "True, or do you want me to see you without your clothes?" James pondered, as slight smirk on his face, unknowingly having a blush on his face as he thought about such a situation. The pervert was growing in this one, it was. His pondering was interrupted when a boot hit him square in the face, causing a bit of a nosebleed as he fell down to the ground, "Next time keep your dirty thoughts to yourself" She said in her armor as she went to put on the boot she threw before walking out of the room, leaving behind a bleeding James. "I regret nothing, you insane woman. Who throws a boot at a person when they are thinking, anyways?" James said, as he pinched his nose as he tried to spot the bleeding. "Oh quit it you big baby, come on" She said grabbing his hand after returning to help him back up as she sat him down at her desk, grabbing some ointment and rubbing it on his nose, "You know how I get when people irritate me" She said putting on a bandage as she got closer to his face by accident, making her face burn a bit as she nervously put the ointment back in it's place. James pouted as she put the bandages on his face, said bandages covering his blush that developed due to Kristel being so close to him. "Yeah, I know but still why a boot? Couldn't you use a magazine or something softer." "Then maybe next time you'll remember to keep your big mouth shut" She said getting up and helping James to his feet, "Come on, we better go check in to make sure we got our assignments" She said as Kristel and James began their walk towards the main chamber of the queen, hoping to see what he had planned for them. They eventually arrived in the throne room to see Aivenna Solus was sitting on her throne, reading a magazine apparently not noticing that James and Kristel were in front of her. James let out a loud cough in a attempt to get her attention. "Oh good morning you two.... Should I even ask why James has his face wrapped up?" Aivenna said looking especially at her daughter who motioned him to be crazy as James glared at her. "Your daughter though it would be a good idea to hit in the face with a boot!" James said, screaming the last part as he pointed at Kristel in a dramatic manner. "Says the guy who was thinking dirty thoughts!" She said as the two pressed their foreheads together, struggling back and forth as if they were trying to be the victor in the struggle. "Ah young love, takes me back to the days when I met your Father" Aivenna said chuckiling as both of them looked back at the queen, both with a deep red blush on their faces as they turned away from each other, hoping the other did not see the other's blush. "Yeah, like I would fall in love with a violent tomboy like her" James stuttered out as he pictured the image of Kristel in a wedding dress within his mind. "Better than falling in love with dorky pervert like you" She tried to get out as well, but felt the image of him carrying her across the threshold, which caused her to shake her head. "So, where are we going to go to investigate?" "The runic and business district, people seem to have been seeing some shadows in the area, some claim that people have disappeared only to reappear with deep cuts on them" The queen said with a serious tone as the two realized that this was a serous issue. "Do we know exactly why they are being attacked?" James questioned, rubbing his chin in thought. "Could it be they are searching for a rare item or something of the sorts?" "It's unknown, the people don't remember what they were asked, and the rest can't speak, so I need for you two to explore this.... Be careful, I rather not lose two of my knights to whatever this is..." She told them with a worried tone as Kristel and James bowed before leaving the room and going to the arsenal to grab their weapons. "So, what's the plan, princess?" James asked in curiosity as he picked up his sword and held it at his side. "Are we gonna use bait or something, or perhaps asks the locals if they remember anything?" "Best not to draw unecessary attention in the middle of the day, for the moment we scout out the location, give us a chance to make sure we get the layabout of the land before we try to do anything" She said grabbing both of her blades along with her Helm of leadership before putting it on. "Well, when you put it like that it certainly sounds simple enough." He said as he grabbed Loywenaid and stuffed it into his pocket, making sure it would not fall out. "But knowing your luck, something will go terribly wrong." "Oh come on, you can't count the last few times, how was I suppose to know you can't cook in the middle of a forest without it attracting werewolves?" Kristel said glaring as the two exited the armory and headed towards the other exit to their destination while continuing their conversation. "Oh, I don't know mabye the face that you're friends with an actual werewolf might have something to do with that." James said as he poked her in the face. "You can be so ditzy at time for such a hardened warrior." "Oh me ditzy, I seem to recall you at one point being unable to even lift that heavy armor of your's, now who was it that taught you the trick? Oh right, it was the Ditzy girl" She said with a smug look on her face as she imagined James growling as they soon entered the next district before the one they were sent to protect. "Don't have to be some mean about it" He said, childishly pouting as he turned his head away from her, feeling slightly embarrassed at the recollection of the memory. "Well it's not like I'm doing it on purpose you big baby" She said elbowing him before chuckling, looking over to some of the areas as she realized that she and James hadn't gotten anything to eat yet, "Hey, how bout we stop by the ramen shop close by? It's said to have the morning ramen that can pretty much revive anyone in the mornings" She said with large sparking eyes as she was shown to be slightly drooling. James could only stare at her in slight bewilderment. "Are you serious? Do you know what your mom will do if we aren't patrolling the area?" James said as he left out a shudder. A mad queen was an bad queen. The things that she could do to a person were unspeakable. Water should not be in certain places, especially there! "Come on, I already have a fix on it, sent some guys to keep me posted for now, and I am sensing their whereabouts so even the lightest twitch will be felt by me" She said quickly moving to the ramen cart as the man greeted them both and began to make his morning ramen. "Alright, we will get the ramen but if we get caught, I'm blaming this all on you" He said as he leaned against the cart, staring off into space for a brief moment. "Relax, I always do this, and not once have I gotten caught" Kristel said teasing James as she was given a glass of orange juice and slowly drank it down, "So, any word from home?" She said looking over to him turn his attention to the large orange juice that was placed in front of him. James took a large gulp of his orange juice, letting out a small burp. "Not really. Haven't heard anything in a while. I hope everything is going alright down there." He said in a worried tone which he tried to mask. "Don't worry, the queen made sure she'd send some guards from time to time to check up on everyone Knight's closest people, and I'm sure they're happy to know that your safe too" She said smiling as their bowls were ready and placed in front of them. Kristel thanked for the food as she began to slurp the noodles, sighing as she found them so tasty. "You eat like a savage beast for one that is taught to act all royal-like" James commented as he gave a small prayer and began to eat his noddles at a slower pace, making sure to savor the flavor of the noddles. "You kidding? I only ever did those lessons to make sure mom would stop hounding me about being more lady-like, but as Leader of the knights, it's not exactly like I need to be more lady like" She said ordering another bowl after she roughly finished her first one. "True. Plus I think if you did try to act lady-like, the entire kingdom would probably be destroyed at the sheer strangeness." He commented, as he contiued to go through his ramen, almost halfway through the entire bowl. "HA! The guy who couldn't even wore heavy armor and at one point cried about calling me strange? That's hilarious" She said beginning on her second bowl as it was placed right in front of her. James, simply responded by taking her ramen and holding it out of her reach. "You can have this back when you learn to stop bringing up embarrassing memories or we could talk about your little moment?" "Alright alright! I'm sorry, now gimmie back my bowl!" She said growling at his attempts to make her submit as he chuckled and handed it back to her. "You never play fair..." "And that shocks you somehow?" He retorted as he finally finished his first bowl. "We should probably start our search again after you finish your food. We might find what's causing all the attacks." "I know, Mr. Serious. Relax, I've been checking in with the other guards and they've been reinvesting the other victims, seeing if any of their stories match up to what happened" She said continuing to eat until she eventually finished, and was given the check before she casually pushed it to James. "Well still, we should be alert." He said as he pulled out his wallet and gave the man the amount of money to pay for the ramen. "Why do I have to always pay? Why can't you do it for once?" "Since when does the princess ever have to pay for meals?" She said winking at James as he got annoyed and attempted to capture her, but ended up giving chase as they made their way to their destination. "The princess should pay for her meals when she has the money." James said, continuing the light-heartened argument, as he chased after Kristel. "Awww, what's the matter, poor wittle James can't show a girl a good time?" She said mocking him before stopping as she saw the others, making James stop as well, but ending up with him slamming his face hard into the ground as the other guards looked at him with confusion. "Why do you have to say such things?" He said, although it was slightly muffled due to his face being firm acquainted with the ground. "Cuz you always messed with me when we were still in training so I'm paying you back" She said with a smile as the guards told her that the witnesses didn't have any new information for them, and were dismissed by the princess as she looked to James, "Looks like we'll have to interview them ourselves". James, quickly jumped and dusted off his clothing, looked around to try and spot any strange activity. "So who should we go and talk to first. And no! We will not be buying anything while we are here" "Relax James, this is serious, and we should investigate the last witness, see if there's anything that she can remember and if I can pick up anything that might be causing her memory to be forgotten" She said as the two walked towards the first house as they found the first victim, shaking as he was eating a bowl of soup. James went up to the man and tapped him on the shoulder, making the man to jump up in surprise and say, in a stuttering mess. "H-h-hello there, P-p-princess. H-how might I help you?" James looked at Kristel, slight puzzled, whispering. "This guy seems quite nervous, doesn't he? He probably knows something." Kristel elbowed him as she softly smiled and went towards the other side, "Hello, I understand that you went through something last night..." Right when she said that, he jumped from his seat, knocking the bowl of soup down as he gasped and attempted to clean it up before Kristel placed both of her hands on his head, channeling her Sensory Magic through him as it triggered something that caused him to calm down as he was placed back on the char. "It's okay, I know it must've been traumatic, but we only wish to help" She said as he nodded and James sat down on another chair. "Now, tell us what happened..." She asked with a kind and compassionate voice. The man began to speak, recalling his experience of being attacked. He told them about how he was leaving for his house last night. He was going to take a shortcut through an alleyway, something that James commented was kinda stupid and Kristel responded with a smack upside the head. Halfway through the alleyway, he was suddenly attacked by a large person. He said that he heard him talking about searching for some sort of artifacts or something. "Alright, we won't take up any of your time, be at peace..." She said smiling as he slowly felt sleepy and decided to head back to his home while the two looked at each other. "Artifacts... Something is going on, aside from the knights and the royal family, no one else is suppose to know about them" She said whispering in his ears as they decided to have the conversation else where. "There must have been a leak or something of the sort." James concluded, rubbing his chin in though. "It seems from that man's story that these figures are mostly attacking around nighttime, so that would be the best time to search." "For the most part, come on, let's go speak with the rest of the witnesses and head back to her majesty to report our findings" Kristel said as the two went on to the next witness to continue their investigation. Foreboding Pain's The day slowly seemed to draw to an end as the duo had checked in with their witnesses, had made their reports to the queen, and were know in one of the nearby restaurants, enjoying dinner as they had a few hours before the timing of the attacks would happen. "Are you kidding me?!" She said glaring at James who was eating his own food. James stopped eating, looking at her with a bored look. "What? All that I am saying is that you're kinda moody at times and very, very ditzy. Like a puppy." "Last time I checked, this "Ditzy puppy" was in command of you and the people that work with you" Kristel replied as she took a big bite out of her burger before adding in some fries as she washed it down with a drink that they gave them. "And last I checked, said puppy was not able to control said group for an entire month before your mother had to help you out" He retorted curtly, stealing some of her fries and eating them, much to her anger. "Hey, I only had trouble cuz You of all people kept telling everyone that everything I would say would be the opposite" Kristel said glaring as she quickly got a chicken wing from him in retaliation. "Eh. You say potato, I say mess with your orders and cause chaos at the same time." James said in a calm manner. Kristel just scoffed as she continued eating her food, "You know... This is probably the longest I ever spent with another knight, usually I would do my patrol, talk with them for a while, then move on to the next task..." She said secretly blushing as she took a long sip of her milkshake. "Aw, does that mean that I am special?" He said as he took as drink of his soda, his eyes closed, therefore not being able to see her blush. "Psh, you wish, it just means you're one of the few only people who can annoy me to my wits end" She replied glaring back at him as she kicked his shin under the table. James let out a small grunt in pain and glared at her, who simply was grinning under his glare. He took her milkshake and began to drink from it, smiling. "What are you gonna do now, commander." "I'd put the milkshake back if I were you" She said holding her blade right near a tender area, "Now unless you want to know what it's like to be a woman, drop...the...shake..." Kristel said as he got the message and dropped it as she returned her blade back where it belonged. "Jeez, dramatic much? No need to try and kill me over a milkshake, you freak'n pychopath" He muttered, as he finished his food. "So, what should we do after this." "We need to head out to the last spot the witness was attacked, and next time, don't mess with my milkshake" She said as the check came, only this time, she paid for the bill, which surprised James. "What's this? You've decided to stop begin cheap and pay for once. Let me go and check to see if Drake is starting showing any emotions." James said as he began to check outside. "Oh ha ha, unlike you, I don't complain when I pay for the check" She said finishing her food as she looked out to see that it was still light out, "We got about another hour, nearby where the attack site was, I know a special spot I used to go" She said looking at him with a gentle look, as if she wanted him to come along with her. James, who had the attention span of the brick at times, didn't seem to know the meaning behind the look, simply said. "Oh, what is this special place?" "Just follow me Baka...." She said in an irritated though as she went walking with James attempting to keep up as they made their way to an allyway. "An alleyway? How bold of you to drag me out to such a place." James said, most likely in an attempt to get her slightly angry. Kristel channeled her magic as she suddenly felt the area she was looking for, putting her hands on a brick as the ground started splitting in half to reveal a underground passage. James' eyes widen in surpise as he followed her down the underground passage. "So how long have you known about this place? I assume that you didn't just find one day and just decided to call it your fortress of solitude." "I found them a while back before I became the leader of the knights, it was actually the reason that I found the twelve items in the first place" She said lighting a torch as she led the way into the hallway as James began to see different inscriptions on the wall. "What the heck is up with this writing? Seems pretty old, almost like runes of sorts." He said as ran his hand along the inscriptions. "Just how old is this place? Could this be where the tomb of original wielder of our items?" "I looked into it, mom said that the original's body had actually left the world, nobody knows how, but she just disappeared without a trace, leaving behind only the objects" Kristel replied as she moved her fingers across one of the runes as another path opened as the two entered, only to find themselves on a cliff side, overlooking an ocean as James looked up to see the kingdom. "As for the runes, let's call them very incredible pathways throughout the entire kingdom". James rubbed his head in confusion. "Wait, so that means these pathways must serve some sort of purpose within the kingdom. Have you guys tried to find out what they do?" "Too much focus on the past leaves us to be unprepared for what the future holds in store, something the former king used to say" She said with a bit of bitterness in her voice. James patted her on the shoulder, trying to give her some form of comfort. "Don't worry about that. While he might be right about one thing, the past can hold information that can prevent us from going to our previous mistakes. Best not forget it." Kristel simply turned over to him as they were now staring into each others eyes, unaware of how much time had passed as they began to step in a bit closer to each other. The two were almost close enough where their lips would pratically touch if they moved one more inch, when suddenly a female voice called out. "Well, what is this? Two lovers within a hidden underground passage? Sounds like something out of a fairy tale." James and Kristel seperated, though their face were a bright red, and turned to see two cloacked figures standing a good distance from them. 'Next Chapter - Slaying Soul: Knights vs Dragons ' Category:Phantombeast Category:Arukana Category:Chapters Category:Norvino Tales